Pop it, lock it, polka dot it

The GIST: Twelve days, 672 matches, and countless strawberries and creams later, the Wimbledon Championships — the penultimate Grand Slam of the season — are coming to a close, but not before history is made on the grass.

The men’s singles semis feature familiar faces: No. 5 Daniil Medvedev and reigning Wimbledon champ No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz meet today at 8:30 a.m. ET for a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Alcaraz won in three sets.

• While the reigning champ has been tested throughout the tourney, Medvedev also needed five sets to beat No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the semis. It’s really anyone’s match in the quest to reach Sunday’s championship.

• Meanwhile, Serbian No. 2 Novak Djokovic walked over to a record-tying 13th Wimbledon semi, where he’ll face Italian No. 25 Lorenzo Musetti, who outlasted American No. 13 Taylor Fritz in five sets to reach his first-ever Grand Slam semifinal.

The women’s singles will see a different champ for the eighth straight year: There must be something in the Italian water because Italy’s No. 7 Jasmine Paolini finds herself in rare company, reaching back-to-back Grand Slam finals. The 28-year-old survived the longest Wimbledon women’s semifinal, a grueling two-hour, 51-minute three-set win over Croatia’s Donna Vekić yesterday.

• She’ll face Czech No. 31 Barbora Krejčiková, who came back from a set down to defeat the 2022 Wimbledon champion and heavy tournament favorite, Kazakhstan’s No. 4 Elena Rybakina in an inspiring three sets.

• It all comes down to tomorrow’s final, where either Paolini or Krejčiková will win their first-ever Wimbledon title. Simply smashing.

The GIST: The 2024 Copa América final is set, pitting defending Copa and World Cup champs No. 1 Argentina against No. 12 Colombia, a squad that’s unbeaten in their last 28 matches. This one has epic written all over it.

• Here’s what to know before Sunday’s 8 p.m. ET kickoff.

Colombia boasts offensive firepower: Though they squeaked by No. 14 Uruguay 1–0 in Wednesday’s low-scoring (but high tension) semi, Los Cafeteros bring the juice on offense, posting a tourney-leading 12 goals in five matches.

• That goal production runs through midfielder James Rodríguez, who has a Copa-best six assists. They’ll certainly need his craftiness to overcome Argentina, who handed Colombia their last loss back in February 2022.

All eyes on Lionel Messi to lead Argentina: He missed one game due to injury, but the typically prolific Messi has just one goal in the tournament — perhaps the captain’s been saving them for when Argentina has the chance to clinch their third international title in three years?

• That said, La Albiceleste are in good hands on defense, having allowed just one goal all Copa behind World Cup hero goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez’s stellar play. Instant classic on deck.

Our first conversation dropped yesterday, and features gold medal–winning CanWNT star Adriana Leon discussing the red and white’s rivalry with the USWNT (spicy!), how she prioritizes her mental health, and so much more. Here’s a sneak preview:

🤺 On the CanWNT vs. USWNT rivalry: “We're so matched up with them and it could be anyone's game…I think evenly matched is always the greatest rivalry. We always want to beat them. I would love to play them in Paris at the final. That would be epic.”

😴 On prep: “We like to sleep, that's kind of a fun fact. A lot.” In fact, she gets at least nine hours a night. Jealous.

🇫🇷 On Paris: “This Olympics is going to be completely different from the last one we experienced over in Tokyo..and we know all eyeballs will be on women’s soccer.” Can’t wait.

Listen to the full episode today and subscribe for even more athlete interviews to come.

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